New Ninja of the Leaf
by lenientDreamer
Summary: Naruto and the gang befriend and train a girl that's not exactly from Konoha... (WARNING: Contains fan character and eventual ships)
1. Chapter 1

**Hello all you fanfiction readers! I've had this story for a while (it was the first I ever wrote), but I never really posted it. :/ I'm going to revise it as it's written, so feel free to give plot suggestions! Criticism is greatly appreciated. This story is about a character based on who I was a few years ago entering the world of ninja. It takes place just after the Zabuza arc. I don't own Naruto! See you at the bottom!**

* * *

It's 3:30 AM. Emily has always procrastinated on her homework so she could make time for other things, even though she is only a 9th grader. She won't admit that she is not getting enough sleep or the fact that she is losing energy needed to function. She was just, "too tired to be tired," as she herself had once put it. Between being awake for classes, helping her friends, and doing homework, no time was left for herself except to sleep. She didn't mind this, though; everyone else was happy, and the happiness of everybody kept her going. Overall, it was worth it.

"Yaaaaaaaaaawn..."

She may not admit to lack of sleep, but for the moment she will agree that she was tired. It was 3:30. Staring blankly at her Biology1 notebook, Emily sighs.

"It's too early for this..."

She closes her book quietly so as to not wake her sisters; her pencil is placed in the page she was working on.

Then she hears it. A faint sound of metal against metal.

_I'm in my 5x5.5 windowless bathroom. What could possibly make a noise like that?_

The noise gives an unhelpful answer. It becomes louder, clearer. However, it's precise location remains unseen.

_*cling* *klish* ... *cling-cling*_

"What is that?" the wondering 15-year-old whispers to herself. She knows that if it gets much louder, her light-sleeping sisters will wake up.

And then

she notices the blue ring.

Before she can react, the ring slowly expands and wobbles. It gives a perfect view of darkness, but... Emily's not sure why, but she can feel something. A presence. Emily often had these feelings of someone else being there, but this has never happened before: she could almost /see/ the strong feeling, telling her to come but with guard up. Emily locks the bathroom door and writes a note to anyone who might come in after busting it down. On it read:

"Guys, I need to go somewhere. I may be gone for a while, possibly a long time, but I will come back. I'm sorry for leaving like this, but I have this strong feeling that I need to see what's on the other side of this thing. ~Emily"

Looking at the circle that was now large enough for a person to walk through, Emily wonders why she wrote the note. Surely she would crawl through, look around, and return before the alarm clock rings at 6. So...why?

_*KLISH* *CLING-CLANG*_

Turning back toward the...portal? Sure. The portal seems to be the source of the sounds that have now gotten very loud.

"What is that thing?"

Emily was alarmed to hear a boy's voice, especially coming from the portal.

"He's going to use it to escape!"

_A girl? What's going on?!_

There's a person appearing in the now large hole. He looks... crazed. Emily picks up her textbook, her only possible weapon. He smiles like... like he wants to see her blood fall...

_If he gets in here, everyone will die._

That is the only thought in her mind as Emily rushes without hesitation towards the blood-thirsty adult.

* * *

**It's a pretty short chapter, but trust me: they get **_**much**_** longer. …I dunno, I think I'll post the next chapter with this one to make up for it. Favorite/Follow/Review please! ^^**


	2. Chapter 2

**Welp, here's the next chapter! I don't own Naruto!  
**

* * *

Emily knew there was no chance of surviving. The only people that she could tell were around were a little boy and girl, and there was no way they could assist her. On the other hand, there was a good chance that the portal would close after someone went through it.

Her family would be safe.

That was all that mattered.

Jumping through the portal made Emily shiver. It was a sudden burst of cold, and the moment she felt it, she lost all confidence as the portal audibly cracked.

_It's done..._

There was the sensation of a vacuum sucking her back up, and then nothing.

Only the charging, rage-filled eyes of her murderer remained.

Prepared to die but at least make a stand, Emily clutched her textbook. The crazed person pulled out an oddly shaped knife; the strange-feeling teen readied her block of paper as if it were a bat.

Fire comes from nowhere. The huge ball of flame knocks the man away, but he is able to throw the blade at her.

_This is it._

_I'm dea-_

*THUNK*

Emily slowly opens her eyes. She stares at the knife firmly stuck in her book before dropping it.

"How did I..."

She can't think. Pure instinct had guided her body to protect itself. It was unreal.

_I'm...alive._

Her thoughts are interrupted by a scream and the sound of...birds?

There's quiet.

Until Emily's punched.

Now, Emily has never been punched, being a girl and all, so she is unaccustomed to the pain that came with it. It hurt worse than when her head had been fractured by her brother when he pushed her off of the bunk beds. She couldn't talk or yelp because it had surprised her. She tries to prepare for the next blow, but it turns out she doesn't need to; a man she didn't notice with white hair pulls the blonde off of her. As a raven-haired boy catches Emily, the girl she heard punches and yells at the blonde.

"What did you think you were doing?!"

The blonde holds his head as he whines, "I thought she was the guy! I couldn't see a difference with all the smoke..."

"Geez..."

Only when the raven boy speaks is when Emily realizes that she is still being held by him on the ground.

"O-Oh! I'm sorry! Ow..." Emily puts a hand to her face where the fist had made contact. It was already swollen.

The arms that were holding her before she moved away take up her leg. The sudden contact hurts, making Emily wince and try to pull away; she feels sick.

"Sensei, her leg is broken."

The white haired man looks over. "Yeah. Well, we'll need her help to decide what that was in our report; we can take her to a hospital on the way." He looks at her with an apologetic face. "It's up to her whether she wishes to share who she is."

Emily stares at the four people in disbelief. _Report? HOSPITALS?!_ "Um, my name's Emily; I don't really need to go to a hospital, do I?" Looking down at her leg, her only hope is that she won't be too much of a burden to these people who had just saved her life.

* * *

"You really need to go. By the way, my name is Sakura," the girl says.

"You can call me Kakashi-sensei," the only adult adds.

"Sasuke," is all the raven states. Definitely a cool-type.

"My name's Naruto, ya know! And and, sorry about punching you," the last member of the party says.

"O-Oh, i-it's alright. I get hurt a lot anyway." It was true. Sort of. Emily always stubs her toe and makes her legs go to sleep, but she doesn't _really_ hurt herself much. Everyone seemed to catch her fib except Naruto.

"Really? You must be unlucky or something."

Looking around, Emily can't help but say, "No kidding. I don't know if I'll see my family and friends again. Plus, I hate hospitals." She had tried to lighten the mood with that last statement, but it didn't work as well as she'd hoped.

She felt like crying.

Of course, crying would not do anything except burden those around her; Emily would need to let those emotions out when she was alone.

"So, where am I?" she asked in an attempt to change the topic.

The three children stare at her in disbelief. The blon- er- Naruto asks with a doubtful face, "Did I punch you too hard or something?"

Sakura comes over and touches Emily's head softly. "Can a person get amnesia with one punch?"

Saskue closes his eyes as if looking at the other two will make him stupid. "From _Naruto?_ No."

Emily is whisked off of her, um, butt. The adult sighs at everyone as if they had missed something of extreme importance. "Did none of you see that she jumped through whatever that portal was?" Sasuke obviously facepalmed on the inside while Sakura blushed. Naruto stared blankly.

"So... What does that mean?" He gets really close to her with a judging face. "Are you... AN ALIEN?!"

Naruto gets three punches and a flick (the flick being from Kakashi-sensei). As he falls on his butt, he yells "Kidding! I was kidding, ya know!"

Kakashi-sensei starts walking in the direction opposite from where the portal had been. "Let's talk along the way. We need to report to The Third, and you need to get that leg fixed." He notices Sakura looking at something. "It's hers."

"Oh!" She doubles back and picks it up. When she catches back up, she's holding the only thing Emily has left of her world besides the clothes that were suddenly quite big on her back.

"My textbook!" Emily thanks the oddly pink-haired girl and takes back the book. Then she stares at the knife. "How did I do that?" she asks again. She's deep in thought until she notices Kakashi-sensei staring at her. "Oh! S-Sorry!"

He smiles a little as he says, "What for? It's our fault your leg is broken." He, too, stares at the knife. Then he looks into her eyes. Very intently. It makes the girl uncomfortable,and she looks away, blushing for no reason. Emily always blushes involuntarily when she feels like she's being... calculated. Somehow, she feels like she saw something in the older man's eye. Was it... recognition?

Emily feels Kakashi-sensei hold her a little tighter. He jumps. And boy, does he jump! They went from the ground to a high tree branch.

_Since when have there been trees?_

Emily lets it go. But this was incredible! They were almost flying!

She looks behind her to see that all of the kids can do it, too. They looked like this was nothing special and did it effortlessly.

"How are you all doing that!"

Sakura looks at her confused. "You mean jumping? With chakra." Sasuke looks at Emily with a look that said _How else?_.

"What do you mean? What's 'chakra'?" Naruto gave her a look like he felt for her. It seems that it took him forever to figure it out himself. Sakura was thinking as if trying to find a starting point.

"We can talk about that later."

Emily suddenly remembers that she was being carried by Kakashi-sensei. She understands what he ment. "What did you want to talk about then?"

"Well," he starts, "I just wanted to mention that if you can manage, you should get some sleep. You're not going to get many chances like this for a good rest."

Emily looks at him confused. "I know I'll have to tell you everything I can about my world before I will get all of the answers about yours, but what do you mean? Will I be busy with other things as well?"

"Yes," he simply states. "Besides, I can tell what type you are. Of person, I mean." He glances down at her with that eye again.

_Do I remind him of someone?_

"You don't sleep much, do you?"

As mentioned earlier, Emily will not admit that she is sleep deprived. "I get enough. I can walk and think properly, so I can't be lacking much sleep at aaa-" She's interrupted by her own yawn.

"What you say and what your body says are completely different." Kakashi smiles at her with a look of fondness. "You'll heal faster if you sleep."

Emily could feel the cunning in his voice as he added, "Then, you won't feel like such a burden to us."

The injured girl threw out apologies like a dam releasing water. Sakura and Sasuke caught what Kakashi-sensei had done; both smiled. Naruto awkwardly accepted the unnecessary apologies.

"I-It's fine, ya know... I should be saying 'Sorry' to you."

With that, the flustered girl closes her eyes and easily drifts off to sleep.

* * *

**Tell me if anyone is OOC. Comments? Suggestions?**


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't own Naruto!**

* * *

Looking at the steady, slow breathing of the girl named Emily, Sasuke whispers, "She's out."

"That didn't take long," Sakura adds, a little worried for the girl.

"So," Sasuke says as he gets closer to look at Emily more carefully, "what are you planning, Kakashi?"

"As straight-forward as always," is all Kakashi mumbles.

Sasuke does not leave his position from next to his sensei; he knew that if the man was to share his thoughts, it would be quiet, quick, and not repeated unless he wanted them to hear.

"Well... If I get the permission, I want to train her. The snag in this is that we would be a five-man squad then."

"Well why can't we have a five-man squad?" the slowest one in the group asks.

"Naruto, if a squad gets too big, it becomes harder to hide tracks and complete missions: the whole point of being a ninja," Sakura briefly explains.

"It might work with her, though."

Everyone looked at their teacher. Even Sasuke didn't know the reasoning behind these words.

"Take a good look at that kunai."

The three do so, but nothing clicks. "So she can stop a kunai," Naruto says. "Big whoop."

"Look closer."

Sakura's eyes get wide. "Th-The blade! How?"

Sasuke understands as soon as she finishes. "Kakashi," he coolly says, "Is this girl going to be a threat to us?"

Their sensei's face grows dark as he states, "That's why I want to train her. Someone of her type is easy to influence at her age."

Naruto is still trying to find out what's so special about the blade. "What? I don't get it."

"Naruto, does the blade look dull to you?"

Naruto looks. "Yeah."

"Well," Kakashi further elaborates, "Would a ninja carry and throw a dull blade? And would it pierce a thick book like that?"

Naruto understands. "No. So, what happened that made to blade dull when it hit the book?"

"See the marks? It looks like the blade was spinning when it pierced. However, the wrappings on the handle would have been displaced if the thrower spun it like that."

"So what happened? What did she do?"

"She spun the book."

Naruto looks at Sasuke. "What? But to make a mark like that, she would have needed to spin the book as fast as lightning!"

Sasuke looks back at Naruto. "And, what did she say about it?"

Naruto thinks. " 'How did I do that?'."

"Yeah. That means she is completely inexperienced; she did this as instinct."

"If her skills were refined, she would become a great asset." Sakura adds.

"She rivals you in guts, Naruto, and she rivals Sasuke in natural talent." Kakashi looks at the two with a grin before he adds, "You guys are going to have your work cut out for you."

* * *

Emily feels like she's floating, and when she stares at her hands, she can see through them.

_A dream, huh?_

She feels a presence again. This time, instead of just some kind of bad feeling like with her attempted murderer, the force of pure evil and hatred surrounds her. It's so strong that she thinks she may pass out; something - or some_one _- is not right.

"Well well... What have we here?" The voice is icy and thoroughly intrigued; the same as that of someone about to dissect a live animal.

_I can't form words, can't move let alone run. The sheer volume of his ferocity is squeezing the breath out of me._ She just starts feeling hot.

Then, she gets hotter.

And hotter.

… _If my body temperature goes up by one more degree, I think my brain's going to melt. On the plus side..._

_I don't hear that guy's voice._

Emily doesn't feel his pressure. _Did this heat do something to keep him away? Where did it come from?_

"Emily!"

The girl snaps her eyes open. Kakashi has woken her up, but something's still not right.

"H...Hot..."

_Wasn't the heat only in my dream? Why am I so hot?_

Something very cold is placed on her forehead. Emily goes from "about to explode" to "slightly chilly" in two seconds. All of the heat just... poof!

"Are you alright?" Sakura is kneeling beside her, clearly scared.

"Yeah," Emily says before sitting up. "Whatever that was, it's gone along with that voice."

Her face is a mixture of relief, unsureness, and confusion. Before she can ask anything, Kakashi gets his questions out.

"What voice?"

Now that she is awake, Emily can recall all of the details and notice things she didn't while asleep.

"There was a voice, but no person, in my dream. He was, or maybe is, so evil and hateful that I couldn't move. It was out of fear; his wickedness kind of... constricted me. There was someone else there; he didn't talk, but I could feel his presence."

Kakashi takes this in. "Anything else you can tell me? What was the man's voice like?"

Emily thinks really hard before saying, "A snake. His voice was hissy as though a snake was talking."

The man is more serious in an instant. He quickly scoops up the girl in large clothes before saying, "We need to move," to his pupils.

Sasuke grabs the textbook and holds a knife like the one the madman used in some kind of ready position; the others do the same.

Everyone jumps onto the tree branches and dives into the green, sprinting in air. Leaves and twigs slap Emily, but she understands that everyone needs to be quiet; they are all running from something.

This goes on for an hour before Kakashi-sensei gives a kind of "okay" to talk and rest.

Naruto says (practically shouts),"Finally!" He pulls out some kind of lunchbox and begins chowing down in agreement with his growling stomach.

Emily realizes something. "What time is it? The sun is setting already!"

" 'Already'?" Sakura asks.

Emily nods. "Before I leapt through the portal, it was only 3:30 in the morning."

Sasuke gives her a weird look. "Where did you come from to go from before dawn to late afternoon? And why were you awake then?"

The girl blushes. "I was doing homework; it's a habit of mine. I'm from Tennessee. That's a state in the country America, which is on the North American continent. My planet's name is Earth, and we have a moon named Luna."

Sakura is surprised. "This planet's Earth, but that continent doesn't exist here, or any of that other stuff besides the moon we have." She turns toward Kakashi-sensei before asking, "Is it a coincidence that our planets have the same name?"

He closes his eyes before saying, "It's possible that it's just coincidence, but I think two more likely possibilities are that her Earth is a future or past version of our Earth or that her earth is in a different dimension than our own."

"So, I'm either a time-traveler or a dimension hopper?" Emily sighs. "I wanted to understand how the universe, heck, the multi-verse works, but this is nuts."

"'Mult-verse'?" Naruto asks.

She nods. "If I had paper and something to draw with, I could show you my entire world, our advances, and what we know about 'the final frontier' since my textbook only covers the biology portion and just an overview of that at best."

"'Final frontier'?" he asks with a confused look.

Emily's leg pulsates, and she cries out. "I'd forgotten it was broken," she mutters to herself.

She is hoisted into the bridal position again.

"Guys, you can talk to her and ask her questions when she's resting in a bed. Besides, the Third is probably wondering where we are."

They pack up their things that they all apparently had out to eat before standing. Sakura and Sasuke each give Emily a rice ball with a simple, "Here," and a, "You must be hungry; have this."

Emily reluctantly takes them (She's never been one to accept things from people.), but stops after they are in one hand. She just stares at the flesh covering her small fingers...

They're too small.

Only then does she realize why her clothes are like blankets on her. "Is there any water nearby?" she asks urgently.

Kakashi is confused but answers, "Yeah, a slow creek about 30m east from here. You want to take a detour?"

"Yeah."

They all head for the water. When the destination is in sight, Emily asks, "Can you put me down by the water's edge?"

Kakashi-sensei does, and Emily does her best not to scream or freak out. Turning back toward her company, she tells them with words full of mixed emotions this:

"I was going to turn sixteen in a few months, but instead, I became twelve again."

* * *

**Everything with the dream will be explained later. I'm going to try to line the story up somewhat with the actual plot. **

**Just because she is from Tennessee, don't give her a thick country dialect! I have friends in TN that speak exactly like people in Indiana and Maine!**

**Comments? Suggestions? Even if you just want to tell me how much I suck, I'm all ears!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I don't own Naruto!**

* * *

"What?!"

Emily doesn't care who asked that or bothers to repeat herself; she's just been pushed off the deep end. She could cope with a new world or dimension or whatever, know that she would not see her family, friends, or home for some time, but she just couldn't handle this.

_Those other things I can fight through and get back to, but I can't relive my life. All of the mistakes I've made, especially the ones that I regret every day, had made me who I was. Now, it's like those things never happened..._

"Emily."

Kakashi-sensei begins picking me up again. "I can understand what the conflict is inside of you right now, but there's always the chance that when you return to your own world that you'll regain your age prior to coming here."

She remembers how she acted when she was twelve: shy, a show-off around her friends (because she thought they would like her better if she was "cool"), a go-between when her friends were in fights (she would help solve the bickering), and a teachers' pet. Sure, she was still most of those things, but at different degrees and in different ways.

_Am I even Emily anymore?_

"Oooooooooi~ Eeeeeeemilyyyyy~ Are you listening?"

Emily or not-Emily or whatever looks at a smiling pink-haired girl. "Hn? What is it, Sakura?"

"Well," she begins, "Kakashi-sensei explained why he thought you were depressed about being twelve again. If you don't feel like Emily anymore and you can't become her again as you are now, why don't you become someone else?"

What's-her-face stares at her. " 'Become someone else'? What do you mean?"

"You could take on a different name. Emily is almost a sixteen-year-old who cares about people very much. She's brave, strong, and has a steady will."

Emily blushes, uncomfortable by the attention and praise. "I don't know about all tha-"

"She is!" Sakura beams. "The thing is, _you_ aren't almost sixteen. You're still pretty, courageous, and everything Emily is, but you aren't who she _was_ at age twelve. You are a different twelve-year-old, so you need a different name!"

"I follow your logic and agree with it, but would a name really change-"

"Yes." Naruto jumps into the conversation. He seems... determined, like he's taking the situation to heart.

Like he understands.

His sureness rubs off a little, and ex-Emily gives in. "Alright," she states. "So, what's my new name?"

Everyone is quiet except for some,"Hmm"s here and there.

"I'VE GOT IT!" Naruto shouts. Smiling, very pleased with himself, he declares, "Your name is... Soumen!"

Sakura punches him before No-name can ask what the heck that means. When she does ask, she gets some weird looks and an answer.

"Soumen-the name of a style of fine, white noodles," Kakashi-sensei explains.

The girl giggles a little. "You want to name me after noodles? Won't you get hungry when you talk to me then?"

Naruto, rubbing his head, says, "Yeah, I guess you're right..."

There is a long pause before Sakura asks, "What about 'Chieko'? It means 'wise child', and you seem pretty smart."

Kakashi-sensei adds, " 'Keiko' is a nice name. You can translate it to mean 'lucky/happy/respectful/sunny child'. There's also 'Masuyo':'benefit the world'."

"Uh, I don't know about that one. I've been more of a hindrance since I first arrived here..."

"Well," Naruto begins, "why don't you tell us things you like? It could help us find one. What month were you born in?"

"January. I like snow, animals, stars, adventure, books... stuff like that. Is that helpful at all?"

"Hmm. Do you like 'Aisho'? It means 'book lover'."

"I've got one, ya know! 'Yukiko'. It means 'rare child', but I thought of it 'cause 'yuki' is 'snow'."

Saskue, who has been silent for the most part, states, " 'Takara', 'treasure', and 'Hoshi', 'star', are okay names."

"Wait, wait," the thinking girl tells them all. "Hmm. 'Soumen' was the first offered, so 's'; 'Chieko' was next, 'h', followed by 'Keiko', 'i', and 'Masuyo', 'u'; then 'Aisho', 'o', and 'Yukiko', 'o', leaving 'Takara', 't', and 'Hoshi', 'o'. So, the letters to be used are 's, h, i, u, o, o, t, o,' and I'll throw in a 'n' from 'Penny', the name of my dream person. Don't ask," she quickly tells her friends. " 'S, h, i, u, o, o, t, o, n'. I want my name to be made of the letters from the names you all chose for me, so now it's only a matter of unscrambling it," she explains.

"So, you're making your new name an acronym," Kakashi-sensei confirms.

Mixed-letters girl nods. "I've always been indecisive, and this is one way that I can compromise everything. 'Soumen' was offered first, so I took the first letter from it, 'Chieko' second, so I stole the second letter, and so on. What do you guys think about 'Noi Ohusto'?"

Sakura's face turns red with anger as she says, "No! 'Noi' is very close to 'Ino'."

The girl quickly gets the picture and does not question the on-fire Sakura. "How about 'Tosu Nohio'?"

There are murmurs of agreement, so Naruto hollers,"Tosu it is!"

The group tells Tosu about themselves and she in return explains the things of her family and home.

"So you have two little brothers and two older sisters?!" Sakura exclaims. "That must be hard!"

"Well, we've never had that kind of sibling bond that normal people do; we just fight all the time." Tosu stares at her book as she says, "I always hope that one day we'll be nicer toward each other..."

Naruto gives off the hint of an aura, and it's not a pretty one. Tosu gets the feeling that he doesn't like her being sad about having so many relatives.

_Maybe he's lost a lot of his own ,_she thinks to herself. _If that's the case, I would be mad too about someone throwing a pity party about her living family..._

Tosu decides that she will never speak so carelessly around Naruto again. The boy really meant something to her, so she did not want to make him angry with her.

"So you grew up in the mountains?" he suddenly asks. Tosu nods. "Well, you'll like our village then. We have some mountains, and we're surrounded by forest for miles; it might not be your home, but maybe you'll like it." He smiles before adding, "When you get out of the hospital, I'll show you around!"

The girl smiles widely. _He's not mad! _ "I'd like that a lot! Thank you!"

They all chat happily until they break through the forest's edge. A dirt road lies before them, and at the end of it are very tall walls with an open door in them. A few paper lanterns light up a small booth on the inside of the wall. Two men seem to be in it, scanning for intruders or people in general perhaps.

"Kakashi! Didn't think you would show up today."

"Normally, we would have made camp. But," he says gesturing to the girl in his arms, "something came up."

The men stare at Tosu, and she tries to make herself shrink into nonexistence. _They're calculating me..._

Two yawns are heard from behind along with someone slowly breathing through their nose as if trying to hide his yawn.

"You guys can go home," Kakashi tells the kids. "I'll address the Third and see Tosu to the hospital. No training tomorrow."

Naruto gives a tired, "All right!" before saying good-night. The other two say their own good-nights before going their separate ways. Kakashi-sensei nods to the two men before going to the hospital.

* * *

"Her name is Tosu Nohio," Kakashi-sensei tells the lady behind the desk. "She has a broken leg and some trauma."

The woman smiles at us as she replies with, "We can't do much about trauma, but we'll have that leg fixed in no time!"

Tosu is laid on a cart before Kakashi-sensei leaves. He tells her that he will come by to check on her after the bone is checked.

_I guess he has to meet with whoever this "Third" is._

She remembers breathing in some gas from a mask before passing out.

"How much longer will she be asleep?"

"Not much longer. Please stay quiet, though. She's very exhausted and should remain asleep for as long as possi-"

"Wait! She's waking up!"

Emily slowly opens her eyes. The things around her are fuzzy and out of focus, but the blonde, pink, and black kind of help her understand the voices she heard.

"Hey guys."

The room slowly becomes clearer as Naruto says, "Hey! You've been making messed up faces and had the nurses running around you like crazy to lower that fever again."

Sakura looks at Tosu, concerned by the recent developments. "Did that man show up?"

The finally awake girl nods. "It was worse this time; he tried to hold me with even more strength, so I guess even more heat was needed to stop him." She looks at the tube going into her arm. "If this has some kind of medication to help me fall asleep, I need it out of me."

The nurse starts to say how it was her pain reliever as well, but Tosu cuts her off. "I know I'm being selfish and that I'm going to hurt a lot if it's removed, but if he keeps whatever this is up, I'm afraid that I won't wake up next time."

Everyone in the room looks at her worriedly.

A voice breaks the silence. "You don't need to worry about that."

They all turn to see Kakashi-sensei in the window. "What do you mean?" Tosu asks. "The man is only in my dreams, so it's not like anyone can help me."

Kakashi-sensei stays quiet, silently confirming the worry Tosu had thought of. "He's real, isn't he? This man is somehow able to sneak into my mind."

"... Yeah."

The girl shivers. _If he can get into my mind and hurt me, he may be able to alter my thoughts and memories. Maybe he could even control me... _She shivers again. After a moment more of thought, Tosu asks the nurse, "When can I get some crutches? I must leave here as soon as possible."

"Oi, calm down," Sakura tells her. "I know that you must want to get home, but you can't be reck-"

"You're wrong," she says calmly. "That's not the problem. I'm a danger to you all." She looks at them all before elaborating. "If this man can reach into my mind, there's a chance that by using my brain, he could control me. That means he would have access to my memories, be able to find this place, and use any of the info I've learned from you all or info from my world to destroy it. I might be a little melodramatic when I say that, but something tells me that I shouldn't put it past him. I need to leave before you all are in danger."

More silence.

With a sigh, Kakashi-sensei gets out of the windowsill, walks over to the bed,

and punches Tosu on the head.

"OW! What was that for?!" It _really_ hurt despite it looking like a tap.

He leans against the wall as he says, "To wake you up; only a half-asleep person could say something that ridiculous."

"Ya got that right!"

"Definitely," Sakura agrees.

Sasuke looks at Tosu. "Whoever he is, we can take him. No one's going to destroy our home when so many strong shinobi live here." He closes his eyes as he adds, "You aren't a loser, so stop thinking like one."

Sakura's eyes become hearts as she immediately starts agreeing with him. _That's one mystery solved, _Tosu thinks as she recalls Sakura's attitude toward that Ino person.

Desperately, she tries to persuade them. "Even if you do have these really strong shinobi, whatever those are, it's still dangerous for me to be here! The longer I'm here, the more I will learn of this place and the people here. He can use that knowledge against you! I may not even have control of my limbs sooner or later; He could use me to hurt you in more ways than one!"

"Are you done yet?" Kakashi-sensei questions.

Tosu conveys her pleads with her eyes. _Don't... Don't do this!_

"You just won't wake up," he says, pushing off the wall to stand upright. "Take a nap; you must be too tired to not get what we're saying." He lifts his headband to reveal a scarred, closed eye.

When he opens it, three black dots on the red iris spin, making the girl suddenly heavy with the need to sleep. As she passes out, she hears one thing:

"You're our friend."

* * *

**Have you guys noticed that the chapters have been getting progressively longer? *shrug* Happy accident.**

**That is actually my thought process when making names sometimes. I'm a nut.**

**You guys remember when you were little and made imaginary friends when you got bored or were lonely? "Penny" was the name of my best friend when I was little, and she was that imaginary friend. Instead of looking up to my sister or parents, I looked up to her… :P**

**Suggestions for plot other than ships? (Not that ships are bad; I love ships!) XD**

**Thanks for the reviews! I'm actually going to do that! :)**


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